The three proverbs that form Sunday’s first reading tell us that speaking reveals who people really are. These proverbs come from the book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus. The author of this collection of Jewish wisdom describes his purpose and gives his name in Sirach 50.27: “Wise instruction, appropriate proverbs, I have written in this book, I, Jesus, son of Eleasar, son of Sirach, as they gushed forth from my understanding.”
Sirach wrote his collections of Jewish wisdom in Jerusalem sometime between 200 and 175 B.C., the period in which Greek ways and Greek learning became increasingly popular among Jews. Sirach wrote in Hebrew to preserve Jewish ways. His wisdom is practical and draws its imagery from everyday life in Palestine.
Sunday’s three proverbs compare the act of speaking to three common activities in Jesus’ time — shaking grain husks from seeds, firing pottery, caring for fruit trees.
Our speech reveals us.
When a sieve is shaken,
the husks appear;
so do people’s faults
when they speak.
Just as the test
of what the potter molds
is in the furnace, so is conversation
the test of a person.
The fruit of a tree shows
the care it has had;
so, too, people’s speech
discloses the bent of their minds.
Praise no one before he or she speaks,
for it is then that people are tested.
Sirach 27.4-7
Wisdom sayings draw on the familiar experience of ordinary people. They use the known and concrete to teach the unknown and conceptual. For example, along the U.S. Gulf coast people have a very concrete way of talking about conflicts on the ladder of success. “Just like a pail of crabs, when one tries to crawl out the others pull it down.”
One of the sayings of Dom Helder Camara, retired bishop of Recife, Brazil, expresses hopes that have grown out of the base community movement. “When one dreams alone, it is only a dream. When we dream together, it is the beginning of reality.”
- How do you respond to the vision of Christianity in Dom Helder’s saying?
For Christians Ash Wednesday begins Lent, a season of prayer, fasting, and renewal. Fasting has an old-fashioned ring that recalls childhood memories of giving up sweets. But the real purpose of fasting is changing habits. We develop compulsions—a handful of chocolate chips every evening or a drink or a flare for seeing what’s wrong in every situation or making more commitments than one can keep.
Weight Watchers claims people can change a habit in 21 days. Lent sets the number at 40. Fasting is about trying a new habit, breaking a compulsion. A compulsion is an action people thoughtlessly repeat. People in weight-loss groups tell stories of eating a box of candy without realizing it. Sitting around without exercising is a habit that increases rather than decreases fatigue.
On Ash Wednesday Catholics remember we are dust. We are human and subject to compulsions. We are human and able to change.
- What habit do you want to develop or break to become a more whole, healthy Christian on Easter Sunday?